Winter’s Last Punch

As I cleaned my yard and raked dead leaves and sticks out of my bushes on Saturday, I tried to ignore a warning that we were in for another storm. More snow, my neighbors shared, shaking their heads and lamenting the worst winter they can ever remember.

My morning view. Those poles are for our batting cage, sans net, because, well, you can’t play baseball in this weather. I am hoping that net will go up next week.

It was nearly 60 degrees on Saturday, with a beautiful warm sunshine. There were crocuses sprouting up throughout my yard. Those little purple flowers always give me such hope. Spring is nearly here, they say, and I believe them.

Crocuses in a vase of ice. How fitting.

Yesterday I headed out to my son’s first spring soccer game of a spring season already filled with postponed and delayed games. The temperature seemed to drop as each minute passed. At halftime my fellow mom-friend headed to her car. She was frozen and had had enough. Her Canadian husband braved the cold with me on the sideline in his all-weather ski gear. Determined to freeze in solidarity with my son, I watched the rest of the game from the sideline, and shivered. My shivering didn’t stop until I submerged myself in a tub of warm water last night, and it was then that I remembered the promise of snow in the morning. A St. Patty’s Day punch. How lovely.

When the going gets tough in February, Mary Alice always says we just need to hang on until St. Patty’s Day. But not this year. This year, winter has the last say. St. Patty’s Day has added another 6 inches to a record breaking cold and snowy winter. Baseball, spring soccer, anything held outdoors — cancelled and postponed. Schools are closed and/or delayed AGAIN. Even dance classes, drama classes, and choir practices have been cancelled. A lot of housebound togetherness between moms and kids is the recipe for mom insanity. Somewhere, I read that this was the winter that killed all the moms. That years from now researchers will look back and see spikes in anti-depressant prescriptions and wonder what happened in 2014 to cause such sadness. Only the mom researchers will know it must have been the weather.

Cool boots.

Even my kids are so tired of the snow that they let out sighs and groans this morning. After the previous March snowstorm, my baby Josie exclaimed, “snow, no snow! Cool socks.” She was clearly trying to put a positive spin on an otherwise bleak situation. And so I’ll follow her lead and try to be positive. The winter must end at some point. March comes in like a lion and out like a lamb. It is only the 17th of March, so there is still plenty of time for those lamb-like days to appear. I have some pretty awesome snow boots this year. They are warm and comfortable and I get to wear them again today as I head out to shovel. Josie is sure to say, “cool boots,” when I put them on my feet, which will make me laugh. Because the weather has been so bad, I’ve done less running and more core strength training exercises. I am now able to hold a handstand (against a wall of course!) for over 30 seconds. I’ve learned that being upside down actually decreases headaches, and helps significantly with neck pain.

And that’s about all I’ve got this morning. Stay strong ladies…stay strong.

By the way, if you wear size 8 or smaller, I highly recommend purchasing children’s boots! My boots are Northface kid boots, 1/3 of the price of their adult boot counterparts. And really, the adult boots are all rather boring compared to the children’s selection.

Juris Mater

Snowstorms and school cancellations on St. Paddy’s Day are JUST WRONG–adding insult to injury.

buildingcathedralstexasmommy

But you can start drinking beer earlier

Katrina

Those ARE cool boots! I hesitate to even say this, because our winters are so different from yours, but…Our “winter” has lasted much longer in Texas this year, too! I know that the two can’t even be compared, but I will say that we just aren’t prepared for cold weather – we don’t have the insulated homes or the clothes to fit the colder temps. However, cold for us is weather in the 30’s and 40’s, while for you it’s in the negatives and teens, so I feel like a wimp even bringing it up!

http://www.buildingcathedrals.com/ Kellie

It is all relative! I’m sure Queen B can trump us all with her winter woes.

Queen B

The crocuses in the ice say it all. At this point, I think it is harder for you North Easterners, because you actually fostered some (very realistic) expectation that spring might arrive in mid-March. We Minnesotans know not to expect spring until mid-June

Charlotte

I stopped reading for a while and now that I go back find it so strange that you weren’t commenting on each others posts… I’d hate for you to lose your readership… Im glad winter is ending and everybody is coming alive again! Now its time to update your bios!!